Zeroed File Recovery

[Lojikbom]

I was going to transfer the data from a 20GB HD to an 80GB HD using the free edition of HD Clone. Both HD's had data on them; I thought HD clone would simply put the new data from the 20GB where there wasn't data on the 80GB.

I called a friend just to make sure and he emphatically told me NOT to do the transfer, that the data on my 80GB would be lost. So I went to press cancel and accidentally pressed start. HD Clone was only running for a few seconds, but it managed to convert about half my files to zero bytes.

I had a lot of pictures and music on that HD. Is there any way I can recover them? I've tried using Stellar Phoenix software recovery (NOT recommended!), to no avail.

 

[DirtBikeRidr]

i think ur screwed unless u got about $1500 to do data recovery... but im not sure wait for other replies.

 

[Celegorm]

unfortunatly DirtBike is right. I have tried free programs before, but none have really been any good. the few i used seemed to make the situation worse.

 

[Raffaz]

Ive used a program called getdataback n the past, hasnt let me down yet, but it isnt free.

 

[Lojikbom]

But can GetDataBack get back a file that reads zero bytes? All my files are still there, it's just that a good number of them read zero bytes and are unusable.

 

[Raffaz]

Yes, its data recovery software

 

[borat_sagdiyev]

did u try system restore?

 

[Lojikbom]

Come to think of it, I haven't used system restore. That was a long time ago though. Since then I've put both drives in a new PCwith a new MoBo. Do you think it would still work?

 

[Lojikbom]

OK, tried system restore, but I could only go back to July 2006 and if I recall correctly I messed up sometime winter 2006. Anyway, the system restore to July 2006 did not revive the files. =(

 

[Raffaz]

Hmmm, why leave it so long if these pics etc where so important? I doubt system restore would work, infact im not even sure if it would restore your pics anyway because they arent system files and arent essential. You might still get lucky with getdataback, but thats unlikely now aswell because you have been running the HDD for 6 months more now, so data will have been written/rewritten over the pics now. You should have recovered the data when it first happened.